The effects of the strike will be felt more by those awaiting trial in a country where delayed justice is the norm.
In an interview the Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Obert Gutu said that his ministry cannot deal with the issue as it belong to the Attorney General office, he however, said for those who are still held in the country’s prisons the strike will have an adverse effect as no trial can take place without the prosecutors.
“The strike will impact on the justice delivery system as prosecutors are an integral part of the justice delivery system. Any criminal trial requires a prosecutor,’ said Gutu.
WOZA activists Jenny Williams and others were lucky and released on Tuesday, but it should be noted that they had endured more than a week incarnated notwithstanding the fact that they had appealed for bail something that under normal circumstances should take a few hours.
But the case is different for thousands of people who are still in custody or are planning to appeal against the ruling as no “criminal case take off without prosecutors”.
“I hope that the strike end quickly, as we would not want the situation to continue but the matter is at the moment in the hands of the AG office,” said Gutu.
On Tuesday prosecutors, an integral part of the justice system, went on strike that has affected even the operations of the police as people are being held without going to trial.
The prosecutors are demanding a review of their salaries of between 200 and 300 dollars a month to be increased to equal those of magistrates.
The least paid magistrate earns around $500 a month.
“It has emerged that there is serious salary and benefits discrepancies between the Law Officers and Prosecutors in the Attorney General Office and that of their counterparts the magistrates and Law Officers who fall under the Judicial Service Commission with whom they hold similar qualifications,” read a notice from Zimbabwe Law Officers Association.
Post published in: News